A soaker hose is a well-known product and comprises a flattened plastic hose containing small openings in a top face. One end of the soaker hose is provided with a hose coupling. The other end (the tail end) is usually provided with a small plastic plug. Sometimes, the tail end of the soaker hose is simply welded shut.
One disadvantage with a soaker hose is that the hose is prone to twisting as it is laid on the ground. Any twisting will result in water spraying from the hose in the wrong direction and this is undesirable.
It is known to lay bricks or heavy weights on the hose to keep it straight as the hose is positioned in place.
It is also known to provide ground stakes which contain some form of finger clamping mechanism to clamp about the hose body to hold the hose in place. These ground stakes are often used if it is desired to have the hose adopt a deliberate somewhat twisted shape such that water passes from the hose in a desired direction. These ground stakes are always removably attached to the soaker hose body and are not designed to stay attached to the soaker hose. Another disadvantage with these ground stakes are that they can block some of the holes in the soaker hose which is undesirable. Examples of these types of ground stakes are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,668, U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,370, U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,194, U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,342 and Canadian patent 1307513. Therefore, it is not desirable to have a ground stake attached intermediate the length of a soaker hose.
It is known to provide some form of anchor assembly on one end of a soaker hose. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,199,817 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,195,818 describe such devices. However, a main disadvantage with these known devices is that the anchor allows the soaker hose to swivel or rotate. This is a disadvantage with soaker hoses as it is always highly desirable to ensure that when the soaker hose is laid on the ground, it is always laid in the “upright” position to ensure that the perforations in the soaker hose extends upwardly.
Another disadvantage with a soaker hose is that to keep the hose from twisting, it is desirable to store the hose in a substantially non twisted manner. Therefore, some form of soaker hose reel would be advantageous as this could keep the soaker hose in a non twisted position when being stored. However, it is found that storing the hose on a circular hose reel tends to promote twisting of the hose. Also, conventional hose reels have some disadvantages in the easy and smooth unrolling of the soaker hose from the hose reel.
It can be quite difficult to unwind a soaker hose from the reel and onto a ground surface while preventing twisting of the soaker hose and preventing the soaker hose from being dragged along the ground as the hose is unwound from the reel.
Finally, conventional soaker hoses are usually made from a top piece and a bottom piece that are welded together to form the hose. These pieces are identical, and small openings are punched or otherwise formed in the top piece. A disadvantage with the system is that it is extremely difficult to see if the hose is in the “upright” position or the “upside down” position as the only way that this can be seen is by viewing the openings, and the openings are usually no more than a pinprick in size making it very difficult to see if the soaker hose is indeed in the proper upright position.
It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.